Note: All pages below are subject to having relevant Roles and Permissions.
This page will show you how to use the Quick Letter option for creating templates and sending a Quick Letter and how to create a Webmerge letter using Quick Reports to include Student data such as Attendance, Assessment and Behaviour.
How to Use Quick Letter
This guide is broken down into the following sections;
- Quick Letter Roles and Permissions
- Create a Quick Letter
- Creating and Maintaining Templates
- Sending a Quick Letter
- Deleting a Quick Letter Template
- Using Bromcom AI
Note: You will need Permission to use the Quick Letter – Manage Templates option. By default, the Permission will be given to all Users who currently have the Framework>Send New Message Permission.
Quick Letter Roles and Permissions
You will need additional Permission to use the Quick Letter – Manage Templates option. By default, the Permission to access the Quick Letter action will be given to all Users, via Config>Setup>Roles & Permissions, who currently have the Framework>People>Students>Send New Message Permission:
To access the Quick Letter – Manage Templates option, Users will need the additional Permission from Framework>People>Students>Quick Letter – Manage Templates:
Create a Quick Letter
Go to the Students List Page.
Select a Student and click Actions>Quick Letter.
Alternatively, you can open the Student Record by pressing View instead of Actions and then click on the Quick Letter button.
When first opened, the Quick Letter page will be blank, to add a Template click on the + icon to the right of the Quick Letter Templates.
Note: The + icon will only show when <NOT SELECTED> is displayed in the Template dropdown list. If a Template is selected, you will have the pencil icon available to edit.
Temporary Dynamic Fields can be added for use in a one-off Quick Letter allowing Student items to be used without the need to store them within the system, by using the Upload CSV option.
When a CSV file is uploaded a second dropdown list Temporary Data Items is displayed, use this list to select your temporary Dynamic Fields.
Note: The CSV file must contain the Student UPN or Admission Number to allow successful matching.
The Information tooltip details the requirements of the CSV.
Creating and Maintaining Templates
Ensuring <NOT SELECTED> is displayed in the Quick Letter Templates dropdown, click on the + icon to the right of the dropdown list, the Add Quick Letter Template page will then open. Click the blue Upload button.
Enter a Name for the Template and if it is to be the Default Template tick the Set as Default box, this will open the Quick Letter with this Template ready selected.
Use the Add and Remove buttons to add the Dynamic Fields to your Template and the Up and Down Arrow buttons to reposition them if required, when finished click the Save button.
If you already have a Word Document which you would like to use as a Template click on the Upload New Template button and select the Template from your saved area.
Note: This is likely to contain a Header and Footer image used by your School.
Once completed, the next time you open the Quick Edit page your Default Template will be displayed and the + icon will be replaced with the Pencil icon for editing.
If you click the Pencil icon this will open the Edit Quick Letter pop-up with the name of the Template.
There will also be a Download button, so the Template can be downloaded and edited in Word, then Uploaded again.
Sending a Quick Letter
Select the relevant Student or Students, click Quick Letter and select the Template to be used, this will display the saved Header for the Template.
Add the Subject and the Content, using the Dynamic Fields dropdown list where necessary.
Note: The Header selection can be amended, for instance if you selected Title, Initial, Surname they will display on separate rows, these can be moved onto one row with spaces manually.
You can now Preview your Quick Letter, by clicking the Preview button.
If you are happy with the Quick Letter make your selections from the options below:
- Keep copy of the produced letter(s) under Documents tab – if selected will save a copy of the Quick Letter under the Documents tab on the Student Record
- Produce letter for contacts only with Parental Responsibility – if selected the Quick Letter will only be produced for Contacts with Parental Responsibility
- Add a record into student communication logs – if selected will save a copy of the Quick Letter under the Communication tab on the Student Details page
- Publish to MCAS – if selected will Publish the Quick Letter on MCAS
- Send the letter as email to recipients where possible – if selected will send the Quick Letter to the Recipients’ email address, The email received will include an attachment of the letter and the email text will say ‘Please see attached letter‘.
Note: If sent by email and the Recipient does not have an email address a letter will be produced instead.
- Communication messages will be sent to contacts priorities indicated below – will send the Quick Letter only to the Recipients with the Priorities selected
Once you have selected your desired options, click the Process button and a Confirmation Message will be given.
If OK is selected a further Information Message will be given.
Select OK to finish and sent the Quick Letter.
Deleting a Quick Letter Template
To delete a Template that is no longer required, go to the Students List page, select a Student and press Actions>Quick Letter.
Once the Quick Letter area loads, you can delete a Template using the delete/bin icon.
This will only be visible when you hover over the Template from the Quick Letter Templates drop down.
Using Bromcom AI
With the relevant roles and permissions you can use Bromcom AI to generate a Quick Letter. As you would for a normal Quick Letter go to the Students List page and select the Students then from the Actions drop down select Quick Letter
In the top right of the Content box click Bromcom AI Generate Content?
Then you will get a pop up to further design your Quick Letter.
In the example below we have typed in that Year 7 Swimming Lessons have been cancelled due to Staff Absence.
We have left the Length as Auto, the Tone is set as Professional and the Language as English
Click Generate Content
The AI will produce the letter , see example below.
You can then choose to go Back, Regenerate the response or Insert the text
You are then directed back to the original Quick Letter screen to continue with the process as normal. You can add further text to the letter if required.
How to Create a Webmerge Letter using Quick Reports
This guide explains how to create a Webmerge Letter using selected data items mapped from a Quick Report. The guide is broken down into the following sections;
- Creating a Letter Template in Word
- Creating a Quick Report containing the relevant Student Data
- Creating the Webmerge
- Sending the Webmerge Letter to Students and Contacts
Access: The minimum permissions required to create a Webmerge using Quick Reports are found in the Reporting Module of Config>Setup>Roles & Permissions.
Note: Dependent on the data you wish to include in the Quick Report, you may also need to check that the User has the relevant Report Design Permissions:
In this example, we will build a Quick Report using Attendance data, therefore the User would need access to the appropriate data:
Creating a Letter Template in Word
You must first create a letter template in the Word format .docx. In the template, create placeholders in which you will map the relevant data items from your Quick Report. Each placeholder must be housed within a set of chevrons << >>:
Note: Do not place any text or placeholders within the header or footer of your template letter, as the Webmerge process will corrupt if all data is not contained within the main body of the document.
Creating a Quick Report containing the relevant Student Data
Go to Reports>Adhoc>Create New Report>Quick Report, or for schools that have joined Bromcom since February 2023 who do not have the Adhoc reporting menu, go to Reports>Quick Report>Create New Report>Quick Report.
From the domain selector, choose the data domain that is most relevant for the data you wish to include in your letter. In this example, we are using the Students domain:
From the Data Items available in the left hand panel, select the items needed for your letter. If you wish to ultimately publish the letter to MCAS or Student Portal, or send the letter to Students/Contacts via My Documents ensure you include the Student ID as a column. Consider adding relevant filters to your report, for example, you may wish to set a date range on the Student Selector and slide the toggle on to allow you to amend this each time you run the report:
In addition to adding filters to the Students, you can also add them to relevant items. In this example, we can add a date range to the Student AM-PM Attendance Percentage:
Once you have included all the relevant Data Items and applied any filters, click Save and complete the information required:
Creating the Webmerge
Now that you have created a letter template and the Quick Report, you are ready to create the Webmerge.
Go to Reports>Adhoc>View Reports, or for schools that have joined Bromcom since February 2023 who do not have the Adhoc reporting menu, go to Reports>Quick Report>View Reports:
Find the Quick Report that you have just created and saved, select it, click Actions and choose Create Web Merge.
If you have chosen any runtime filters, these will now display. Check the filters and when happy, click Apply.
You will now be presented with the Webmerge process screen, which includes four steps:
- Template
- Browse to select the letter template you created earlier
- Click Next.
- Merge Fields
- The system will automatically map the merge fields based on the text contained within the placeholders within your template and the data items from within your Quick Report.
- Check the merge fields and amend any that may be incorrectly mapped.
- Click Next.
- Advanced Options
- Custom filters allows you to apply further filters if you wish. For example, you may decide to only produce the letter for students with less than 95% attendance.
- Report properties gives you Sort and Page Break options, along with Focus – it is important to select Student ID here to enable matching if you wish to be able to publish to MCAS and/or the Student Portal in the next stage, or send the letter to Students/Contacts via My Documents.
- Output
- Choose the format you wish to save the letter in – Word or pdf.
- If you wish to copy to the DMS, you also need to choose whether to save as one single document, or as individual, multiple documents. The latter choice will also allow you to select whether to publish to MCAS and/or the Student Portal (providing Student ID has been selected as the Focus in step 3.
Once all four steps have been completed, click Save & Process.
Sending the Webmerge Letter to Students and Contacts
If you selected to copy the letters to the DMS, and selected the Student ID as the Focus from the Advanced Options part of the Webmerge process it is possible to send the letters to Students and/or Contacts via Email from My Documents.
From the top right of the screen click on your picture and select My Documents.
From the My Documents list select the required document(s). Use the Filters button and Search bar to filter the list appropriately.
Important: Ensure the Focus column is populated with the Student name, if this isn’t populated you will need to add the email address for the Student or Contact into the Student Profile. See How to View the Student Details Page
If the Focus column is not populated this means the student doesn’t have an email attached to his/her name.
Once you have selected the relevant Documents from the top right Actions drop down choose Send Document.
From the Send Document screen complete the Recipient, this defaults to Contact change to Student if required.
Enter the Subject of the Email.
Selected DMS Document(s): all selected documents will be listed here.
Complete the Message using the Dynamic Fields drop down to personalize the message if required.
Choose Send to Parental Responsibility contacts only if required.
Note: All Priorities are ticked by default. If required untick and select which priorities are to receive the email.
Click on Recipients to check the recipient list and click Send or Back to amend the message
The email and attached documents have now been sent..